Into Africa

When I first went to Africa, I headed straight to the home of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa and one of the world’s better storytellers. Daisy Rothschild (seen here at the Giraffe Manor) became a neighbor, as did Beryl Markham, author of West With the Night.

My good luck was to see this terrain in the company of local experts. I searched for fossils alongside Richard and Meave Leakey On location with filmmakers Alan and Joan Root, I learned the patience required to capture wildlife behavior. One Christmas was spent with Cynthia Moss at her Amboseli Research Camp near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Elephants came into focus again with Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton. Kuki Gallmann who wrote I Dreamed of Africa was my guide to Laikipia. Roland Purcell and Richard Bonham welcomed me to their camps in Katavi and the Selous. Dr. Laurie Marker introduced me to her world of cheetahs in Namibia.

After 40 journeys to Africa, I decided to live where my heart has been for a long time. In 2014, I relinquished my New York apartment and became a digital nomad, living out of one suitcase on what began as a Senior Gap Year. The adventure began in Tuscany, took me to Paris, the Pyrenees, London and Liverpool, but I landed in Kenya, with giraffe as my neighbors. Do I read the news or watch wildlife and birds?